Internet Music – Blessing or Curse?

Admin — Sun, 10 May 2009 04:51:42 +0000

I just learned that April 19, 2008 was Record Store Day, an opportunity to celebrate independent record stores. As record stores slowly vanish across the country, it is revealing that April 19 came and went with little fanfare. Perhaps, like me, the event was invisible to you, too. And I am sorry I missed it, because I value the place of music stores in our culture. But it got me thinking about how music is accessed and sold these days.
I am not fond of vinyl — I do not miss the pops and clicks, or the way that dust balls would build up in front of the needle and cause the sound to crackle — but those large album sleeves allowed for some nice ly inventive packaging back in the day that cannot be done with CD s. I remember the surprise of opportunity Alice Cooper’s School’s Out. The cover was the surface of one of those old grammar school desks and lifted up like the lid of the desk to reveal the interior. The record was nested inside a slinky pair of pink girl’s paper panties, which you had to slip off to performance the record. Then there was Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick, packaged with a fictional small town paper, “The St. Cleve Chronicle.” It was a crafty satire of a provincial newspaper replete with articles, television listings, advertisements, a crossword — even a lascivious connect-the-dots puzzle — all oozing with irony. It read like a novel, with the same characters reappearing in diverse sections.
The Internet offers a excellent way to discover, sample and purchase music, no doubt about it. It’s a excellent improvement over the experience the majority of us have had of buying a new CD and finding out you only like two of the ten tunes. And the Internet has really better the opportunity for independent artists to reach a expansive r fans than ever before. But in making snap judgments following listening to a snippet of music Web, all of us also lose the ability of tunes to grow on us. We’re like children dazzled by neon crayons, and all of us risk passing over subtler but richer hues. There’s the danger that music becomes less about artistry and more about commodity.
Still another problem is the lower d audio quality of MP3s, a digital format whereby much of the original audio signal is discarded in order to compress the file size and facilitate digital storage, downloading and other transfers. We’ve sacrificed quality for convenience. I confess, though, I love being able to shuffle tunes on my iPod. The unpredictability keeps the music fresh for me. But it is not in the absence of a price.
As all of us increasingly rely on downloadable music, I worry about what all of us lose. I still like the experience of going to record stores: the physicality of the merchandise, the role of opportunity and being exposed to something accidentally. Erykah Badu has a marvelous music video of the song “Honey” from her recently released album. An anonymous customer (actually Erykah, but her face is never shown) browses vinyl in a record store, and diverse classic album covers come alive with images of Erykah. It’s a witty video that captures the magic of the experience. The video ends with a message scrolling across the bottom of the screen: “Support your local/regional record store!!!!!” I may n’t have said it better.

Internet Music Services For Different Kind Of Listener

Admin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:32:49 +0000

Every music listener has diverse needs. What are yours?
There are Web music services – from the casual pop lover to the audiobook listener. Which one would you choose?
Some quick Tips:
Mac user or PC user?
Any products by Apple, including the iPod line, are a number of times solely compatible with the iTunes Music Store, which is available on both Macs and PC s.
Other devices with the “Plays for Sure” logo work well with Windows Media Player – based download services and are PC -only. Check your favorite devices for compatibility before you buy. like Apple, Sony players will only work with the Sony Connect music service.
iTunes Music Store: Home of the 99-cent download, the iTunes Music Store (ITMS) features over 1 million tunes. Entire albums are available for download but the ITMS only guides iPod devices. The system allows you to burn your tracks to CD for low-tech consumption. Most major labels are represented and ITMS tends to get newer music even before some of the other major players. A partnership with Audible.com also allows you to download audiobooks, allowing you to while away the road miles with a nice book.
MusicMatch: MusicMatch’s On Demand subscription service makes this system stand out. Instead of buying individual tunes, you pay $5.95 to listen to a selection of tunes for a certain period of time. Once you cancel your subscription, however, the music disappears. MusicMatch also offers 99-cent tracks. A special music suggestion engine makes short work of figuring out what you’d like to listen to next.
eMusic: eMusic is a pioneering MP3 service that offers a number of downloads for a set price. The the majority expensive offer, for example, costs $19.99 and entitles you to 90 song downloads per month. The tracks will performance on any MP3 player in the world and are completely unprotected by any digital rights management. The music is skewed towards the alternative and unknowns but there are thousands of gems in eMusic’s extensive library, from the Pixies to Bloc event.
Napster: The original music service has gone legit. Individual tracks are 99 cents and Napster To Go offers unlimited downloads to any MP3 player for $14.95. The To Go service, like MusicMatch’s service, expires once your subscription lapses. You may only burn purchased tracks to CD s, but the catalog is expansive and Napster features all of the latest from artists in all genre s.
Rhapsody: Rhapsody offers free downloadable music in trial mode as well as a $9.95 all-you-can eat subscription with 99-cent downloads and Rhapsody To Go which allows you to download content to your MP3 player. like other Microsoft Digital Rights Management -based services, music you did not pay for is erased when your subscription lapses.
Sony Connect: Similar to the iTunes Music Store, Sony’s store will only work with Sony players, which use the proprietary ATRAC format for music files. But one of those players is the decidedly hot performance Station Portable game, video and music device. Sony’s store includes music from all the major labels, not just the Sony catalog. like other music stores you may also burn downloaded music to CD s.
MSN: A latecomer to the event, the MSN Music Store guides Microsoft’s Janus Digital Rights Management system, which is bundled with the majority copies of Windows. Tracks are 99 cents and the service is compatible with the majority non-Apple MP3 players. Major labels are well represented, but the featured music skews towards less alternative acts.

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Internet Music – Blessing or Curse?

Internet Music Services For Different Kind Of Listener